Post by irishrover on May 29, 2019 22:51:34 GMT

Yes, so far Manchester weather has not intervened. Annoyingly I'm missing this Lancs-Worcs game, which looks like the best of the year so far in these parts. Could still go either way as Lancs batting wobbles have returned with avengence.

I'm not normally a fan of sporting bans for recreational drug use as there's an element of hypocrisy about it but it's very hard to have any sympathy for Hales. You do wonder if there's a brain in there to be honest. I've met a few people who have known him and the general perception seemed to be that - very good cricketer but completely clueless about everything else.

I think that Surrey draw may well prove an excellent result for Somerset come the end of the season and note they are back to winning ways v Warwcks. Even bigger win for Glos. I'm quite tempted by the Lancs game at Cheltenham actually could be a better contest than many might think. Be fun to watch Anderson play there if he's available. If they can get themselves in that promotion race then Glos have a slight advantage handed to them by the assymetric fixture list in that they are only playing Lancs the once.

Shame about the weather and other things spoiling the Gloucestershire v Lancs match. After day 1 it looked like a result but losing the two days will make it difficult to get a result now. It was boiling up to be a very good match.

It is a shame - and I guess shows the downside of using so many outgrounds this season due to World Cup games.

I went on Monday and it was very parred back. Definitely not the festival set-up. More like a more classic outground experience with deckchairs behind the advertising hoardings and only 1 food and beer outlet. It was the best days cricket I've seen this year though. Glos battled admirably against the Lancs attack which is the best in that league by a fair distance. The frustration for them is that they collapsed just at the point where they seemed to be turning the pressure onto Lancs. Taylor and Hammond put on 80 odd and it looked like they had a decent chance of a 300+ competitive first innings score only to lose 2 wickets in 2 balls to Livingstone and never to recover. However, the stupid runnout of Hameed meant it was more difficult for Lancs than it should have been and with their dodgy batting it would have been interesting to see if Glos could have done some damage with the ball on the morning after a downpour. Unfortunately though the downpour did for the days play (they'd have definitely played at a standard county venue) and then they lost today to rain too. No chance of even manufacturing an outcome from there I think which is a shame.

We should probably create a separate World Cup thread but I went to the Warm up game at Bristol yesterday between West Indies and New Zealand. I enjoyed it but it shows how much expectations have shifted. Windies seems a lot more up for it than NZ - I suspect they have a few more spots up for grabs. NZ bowling was poor and Windies pummelled an insane 420. They do have an absurd number of big hitters but their key to their success is probably going to be whether Hetmeyer and Hope can give them a consistent platform in the middle overs and they both impressed yesterday. Hope's hundred was pretty classy stuff. Then New Zealand were all out for 'only' 330! It is weird the NZ innings felt pedestrian in comparison even though by any normal standards it clearly wasn't!

Post by jackthegas on May 31, 2019 14:28:13 GMT

I saw my first days cricket this year on Monday. Only the second days cricket on a non-work day at New Road this season, and on the last occasion the weather was awful so I decided to give it a miss. Mind you, it was still bloody cold on Monday!

I saw Middlesex bowled out for 220 having been asked to bat. The pitch was absolute dross and I felt that score was probably 20 runs above par. Worcester have a habit of producing pitches that are up and down from the off. One delivery from the Diglis End took off and a few balls later a similar deliver basically rolled along the floor. Worcester were then blown away by Tom Helm who was very impressive. Nice solid repeatable action, tall and decent pace. One to watch if he can stay fit.

Worcester’s batting is thin. Rhodes is not a number 3 and I don’t think Whitley is a number 6, nor a front line bowler. D’Olivera can’t buy a run and is out of the side and Fell hasn’t really found form after recovering from illness. A youngster called Josh Dell made 50 at 4 the round before so maybe he will play a few more games in the second half of the season. They have lost Twohig to injury too so they have no front line spinner. I was surprised they didn’t go in for Bess on loan and I would have thought that Somerset may have been receptive to loaning to a second division county rather than Yorkshire. I think mid-table looks the most likely outcome for Worcester this season.

Somerset have had a great start to the season and I was really pleased that they won the one day cup. They have a really exciting young squad with lots of strength in depth and competition for places. They must have a really good chance of doing the double this year. Glos have been competitive too which is nice.

I guess there won’t be a lot of love for the new franchise names on this forum. Anyone fancy going to Cardiff to watch the Welsh Fire which is the side Gloucestershire and Somerset are affiliated with? I am trying to remain open minded regarding the format but creating a franchise in Wales to accommodate the South West of England and the whole of Wales was always going to raise peoples hackles. Couldn’t they have compromised and had 10 sides with the South West one’s fixtures shared between Bristol and Taunton? Could have had a North East side too. They have 8 games at the moment. Making it 9 games with 4 home and 5 away or vice versa doesn’t seem too hard to accommodate. Ensure you have at least one game played at each smaller affiliated County each year (so the Birmingham franchise would play at least one game in Worcester and three in Birmingham) and reduce the number of list A games by moving to a knockout competition. Still sounds rubbish but at least a few less people would feel left out.

Post by irishrover on May 31, 2019 15:33:48 GMT

I think any Westcountry cricket fans worth their salt should probably be boycotting the hundred! They really screwed us over with that. It's clearly a fantasy to expect Westcountry cricket fans to get behind a team based in Cardiff. The inclusion of the other counties in this is clearly just a publicity stunt so they can say its inclusive. I don't really see Derbyshire and Leicestershire having any influence on what happens with the Notts based franchise. I'm going to do my best to ignore it but may be dragged in. The big issue they are going to have is finding the cash to actually pay for the real superstarts- if you do this, you can't do it on the cheap and I don't think that the Kohli, Dhoni, Andre Russell's of this world are going to be coming over for anything less than top dollar. Apparently we all have to get behind it though because the ECB has bet the house on it....hmmmm.

You were definitely closer to the money on Glos than I was. There's a bit fight about them and just a little bit of extra quality in the batting lineup. Apparently they are under investigation for the lost play on Tuesday at Cheltenham but a draw against Lancs is a good result to be honest and if they can put some wins together it's not inconceivable that they could challenge for that final spot. There is some real dross in that league unfortunately. I've seen Leicester, Derby and Northants. All 3 were awful and certainly couldn't compete with Lancs. I mean it's a joke Lancs are in that league with the squad they have - I can't believe that no one was sacked for their relegation last year. Looks to me like Worcester have finally lost one player too many. The batting just looks light.

Post by warehamgas on May 31, 2019 22:11:23 GMT

Regarding the 100, it’s hard to have much optimism for it but the ECB will no doubt make some up. The publicity surrounding it is poor, they’ve released the names of 6 teams but not the other two. Seems a bit piecemeal. Somerset supporters are just laughing about it at the moment and are worried about what cricket will be available to watch in July and August next year, if any.I don’t really know the background but I don’t know why any county would support the next door county if their players aren’t playing for the nearest franchise. When the draft comes I would have thought that there will be more Somerset players wanted rather than Glamorgan’s. Will Somerset’s player have to play for the Welsh team or will it be an open draft? If it’s open then I would imagine we would support our players wherever they are playing, If fans decide to go at all to support which isn’t a given at the moment. Jack, I’m not sure the ECB will worry about counties or fans feeling left out, they have always talked about a “new audience” which won’t include the likes of me. They are looking for families and children for the late afternoon / early evening I would have thought a fair few of Somerset’s players will be involved in the competition which then begs the question who will be left to play for us in the main summer months.Lots of questions but very few answers. Hey ho I should be used to this after years of supporting the gas!

Post by warehamgas on May 31, 2019 22:26:45 GMT

I saw my first days cricket this year on Monday. Only the second days cricket on a non-work day at New Road this season, and on the last occasion the weather was awful so I decided to give it a miss. Mind you, it was still bloody cold on Monday!

I saw Middlesex bowled out for 220 having been asked to bat. The pitch was absolute dross and I felt that score was probably 20 runs above par. Worcester have a habit of producing pitches that are up and down from the off. One delivery from the Diglis End took off and a few balls later a similar deliver basically rolled along the floor. Worcester were then blown away by Tom Helm who was very impressive. Nice solid repeatable action, tall and decent pace. One to watch if he can stay fit.

Worcester’s batting is thin. Rhodes is not a number 3 and I don’t think Whitley is a number 6, nor a front line bowler. D’Olivera can’t buy a run and is out of the side and Fell hasn’t really found form after recovering from illness. A youngster called Josh Dell made 50 at 4 the round before so maybe he will play a few more games in the second half of the season. They have lost Twohig to injury too so they have no front line spinner. I was surprised they didn’t go in for Bess on loan and I would have thought that Somerset may have been receptive to loaning to a second division county rather than Yorkshire. I think mid-table looks the most likely outcome for Worcester this season.

Somerset have had a great start to the season and I was really pleased that they won the one day cup. They have a really exciting young squad with lots of strength in depth and competition for places. They must have a really good chance of doing the double this year. Glos have been competitive too which is nice.

I guess there won’t be a lot of love for the new franchise names on this forum. Anyone fancy going to Cardiff to watch the Welsh Fire which is the side Gloucestershire and Somerset are affiliated with? I am trying to remain open minded regarding the format but creating a franchise in Wales to accommodate the South West of England and the whole of Wales was always going to raise peoples hackles. Couldn’t they have compromised and had 10 sides with the South West one’s fixtures shared between Bristol and Taunton? Could have had a North East side too. They have 8 games at the moment. Making it 9 games with 4 home and 5 away or vice versa doesn’t seem too hard to accommodate. Ensure you have at least one game played at each smaller affiliated County each year (so the Birmingham franchise would play at least one game in Worcester and three in Birmingham) and reduce the number of list A games by moving to a knockout competition. Still sounds rubbish but at least a few less people would feel left out.

Sounded a good match despite the result. I suppose Worcestershire now have to give the new youngsters time to get the experience that Joe Clarke had before he left. But youngsters is the way to go with counties like Somerset and Worcestershire. We’re not test playing counties so don’t have that income but developing our own players and becoming good counties for our members and being well run is the way forward.

Last Saturday at Lords Hampshire with all their money managed to find themselves in a position where their foreign signings were unable to play in the final having played in the group matches which apparently was known about and on top of Vince and Dawson being called up by England. It spoiled the day as a spectacle that Hampshire went into the match with not enough batsmen. No wonder their fans were very sparse at the final, they knew what the result was likely to be and they could always go to the Rose Bowl to see England. All on Cup Final day. Madness!

And yes I was surprised, we all were that Bess went to Yorkshire. So he could help Yorkshire win Division 1 Championship instead of us. Someone at Somerset didn’t think that one through. Trouble is I doubt if we will play two spinners at Taunton this year until September if at all. I feel sorry for Dom Bess, he’s not as good a bowler as Jack Leach yet. It all happened very quickly for Bess with England when Leach and Crane were injured but spinners need to bowl lots of overs and in his career Bess hasn’t yet. He will in time but Somerset are going to struggle to bowl both spinners in the same team. But whatever we do lending Bess to any of our competitors is not the answer.

Post by warehamgas on Jun 13, 2019 17:06:17 GMT

This June weather is really messing up the Championship so far but out of it all Somerset managed to get a win v Kent in less than two days, less than 4 sessions. We’re still a batsman short imo but our bowlers are blowing away most of the opposition. And not even a sniff of a turning wicket for our spinner(s) yet at Taunton or anywhere. 26 points clear but a long, long way to go yet but we usually get stronger. Now we need to take each match at a time, keep our nerve and rotate our bowlers to keep them fit.

Post by irishrover on Jun 14, 2019 14:49:10 GMT

This June weather is really messing up the Championship so far but out of it all Somerset managed to get a win v Kent in less than two days, less than 4 sessions. We’re still a batsman short imo but our bowlers are blowing away most of the opposition. And not even a sniff of a turning wicket for our spinner(s) yet at Taunton or anywhere. 26 points clear but a long, long way to go yet but we usually get stronger. Now we need to take each match at a time, keep our nerve and rotate our bowlers to keep them fit.

Come on - if you don't win it this year when will you ever? I mean winning games like that Kent match when everyone else is rained of is gold dust. Hampshire are emerging as the main challenger but I can't really see it. I don't understand why you let Bess go to Yorkshire. Sure I see why he's frustrated and wants to get game time but why on earth lend him to a team that could be a rival? They must be paying Somerset a lot of money for his services surely. In the long run there is a problem (though perhaps not a bad one to have) with keeping all your young ambitious players happy. I can't see Bess or Jamie Overton staying if they're not going to be guaranteed starters - both have realistic England ambitions after all.

Post by warehamgas on Jun 14, 2019 20:18:16 GMT

You obviously haven’t been watching Somerset as long as some of us! We really can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But the luck is certainly going our way with the weather, although to be fair to us in the most recent match we had less than 4 sessions and won the match, others had about the same time and didn’t. But irish you are right about the Bess issue, no one at Taunton can understand why he’s gone on loan to Yorkshire. Still I think it’s only for a month, maximum of 4 matches, so I don’t think it will define our season. It was a strange one though.And of course you are correct about keeping all our young players happy. It is a problem but perhaps not such a big problem when you’ve come up through the system, played in all the age groups. In our case the “we are Somerset “ mantra is very strong as you saw when Bess and Jamie O came back for the one day final.But the problem will resolve itself this year. For the Kent match Marcus T was left out of the squad because of lack of form and Tom Banton played and top scored with 66 on a poor pitch, in what turned out to be a match-winning innings. It was a move we at Taunton had predicted a few matches ago. This will be Tres’s last season I think and he will not let his pride weaken the side. The fast bowlers situation isn’t a problem. Jamie and Craig have just signed long term contracts and they will not want to be anywhere else. We have 6 fast bowlers with Davey and Groenewald added to the 4 at Kent. They have been revolved all season so far with the exception of Craig who’s played all the matches. Jamie was injured at the start and he went to Northampton for one match to get practice. Lewis G signed a new lucrative, long term contract in September and he will play and captain in the T20. But I think that Tres being dropped means that no one is guaranteed a starting spot which is a strength of the squad. Banton and Bartlett are the two batting youngsters and I think they will play.And I guess the Championship schedule with 4 matches in September may give Bess the chance to bowl at the key time of the season. And any player this year will want to stick around and become a legend by being in the team that finally gets our Holy Grail, the Championship. It will put all the one day wins of the glory years into perspective. I guess time will tell but of all the players I think Dom Bess is the one who may need to move eventually to get the time to bowl consistently. The others will be in the Somerset team for a very long time.

Post by irishrover on Jun 14, 2019 22:34:17 GMT

You obviously haven’t been watching Somerset as long as some of us! We really can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But the luck is certainly going our way with the weather, although to be fair to us in the most recent match we had less than 4 sessions and won the match, others had about the same time and didn’t. But irish you are right about the Bess issue, no one at Taunton can understand why he’s gone on loan to Yorkshire. Still I think it’s only for a month, maximum of 4 matches, so I don’t think it will define our season. It was a strange one though.And of course you are correct about keeping all our young players happy. It is a problem but perhaps not such a big problem when you’ve come up through the system, played in all the age groups. In our case the “we are Somerset “ mantra is very strong as you saw when Bess and Jamie O came back for the one day final.But the problem will resolve itself this year. For the Kent match Marcus T was left out of the squad because of lack of form and Tom Banton played and top scored with 66 on a poor pitch, in what turned out to be a match-winning innings. It was a move we at Taunton had predicted a few matches ago. This will be Tres’s last season I think and he will not let his pride weaken the side. The fast bowlers situation isn’t a problem. Jamie and Craig have just signed long term contracts and they will not want to be anywhere else. We have 6 fast bowlers with Davey and Groenewald added to the 4 at Kent. They have been revolved all season so far with the exception of Craig who’s played all the matches. Jamie was injured at the start and he went to Northampton for one match to get practice. Lewis G signed a new lucrative, long term contract in September and he will play and captain in the T20. But I think that Tres being dropped means that no one is guaranteed a starting spot which is a strength of the squad. Banton and Bartlett are the two batting youngsters and I think they will play.And I guess the Championship schedule with 4 matches in September may give Bess the chance to bowl at the key time of the season. And any player this year will want to stick around and become a legend by being in the team that finally gets our Holy Grail, the Championship. It will put all the one day wins of the glory years into perspective. I guess time will tell but of all the players I think Dom Bess is the one who may need to move eventually to get the time to bowl consistently. The others will be in the Somerset team for a very long time.

Yes-you'd definitely hope so as a Somerset fan. As an ex Keynsham Cricket Club player I find it sad that Tres is clearly coming to an end but its only fair. Bartlett and Banton's emergence can't be held back. I hope I'm wrong but I honestly think he may have played his last game already bar injuries. I think the exciting thing for Somerset fans is that this is actually quite a young team that might hold for some time. So while the narrative about Somerset being the near miss merchants for the last decade plus is well deserved the core of this team is actually a different set of players. Should they win the thing I think the media narrative will probably be 'at long last' with pieces on Tres, Trego and Hildreth which is fair enough but I think the more interesting thing is that core of young players particularly, as you say, the battery of seamers is impressive that set them up for more of a long term potential of success. So I think if you break the seal on that first championship it could be the start of a golden age.

In some ways I wonder if Somerset have lucked out with their player development in the same way that Durham and Sussex did in the recent past - they've unearthed a lot of very talented young players who, in the main, may not quite be good enough to have extensive England careers (unlike Yorkshire) and they have the financial clout (unlike Worcester - sorry Jack!) to be able to hold onto them. Both Overton brothers, Gregory and Bess all have completely realistic England prospects but the bowling lineup is tough to crack right now and it probably leaves Leach as the only one that looks absolutely nailed on for an England career and that may be what gets Somerset out of their bind with spinner. Personally (and others may disagree here) I think Leach will get into the England side for the Ashes at some point this summer and stay there for a long time - there's no better spinner in the country and at some point that will matter. So next year that would make Bess the regular number 1 at Taunton. If that doesn't happen I think Bess might well leave - for a guy who is clearly in the England picture being a one day regular and a Championship run at the end of the season is unlikely to be enough. You can bet Yorkshire will be in his ear.

Post by warehamgas on Jun 17, 2019 11:43:15 GMT

Your analysis about our bowling attack irish is pretty bang on. Our bowlers are very good but it’s hard to see them replacing anyone in the England team. You may be right about Jack Leach later on in the Summer but it’s such a tight test squad with Moeen and Rashid likely to be the spinners that I think he will miss out again. And Jamie O is still, imo, the fastest and potentially best bowler we have but he is so vulnerable to injuries that I’m not sure he will go on and play for England. Somerset I think “manage” him very well and he knows it. One or two of the bowlers, possibly Davey, Brooks or even Craig O may be rested for the T20 but if fit I think Jamie will play as many as he can together with Jerome Taylor. Bess could go out on loan again, to a second division team I hope, but he will be kept back for the time when the Ashes start in case Jack L is called up. I’ve always felt we are a batsman short to be a Championship winning side but our bowlers are getting us out of a few holes so far this season.

Post by irishrover on Jun 17, 2019 12:06:41 GMT

Your analysis about our bowling attack irish is pretty bang on. Our bowlers are very good but it’s hard to see them replacing anyone in the England team. You may be right about Jack Leach later on in the Summer but it’s such a tight test squad with Moeen and Rashid likely to be the spinners that I think he will miss out again. And Jamie O is still, imo, the fastest and potentially best bowler we have but he is so vulnerable to injuries that I’m not sure he will go on and play for England. Somerset I think “manage” him very well and he knows it. One or two of the bowlers, possibly Davey, Brooks or even Craig O may be rested for the T20 but if fit I think Jamie will play as many as he can together with Jerome Taylor. Bess could go out on loan again, to a second division team I hope, but he will be kept back for the time when the Ashes start in case Jack L is called up. I’ve always felt we are a batsman short to be a Championship winning side but our bowlers are getting us out of a few holes so far this season.

You may be a batsmen light but you bat deep- and that's just as important in a season where bowlers are, on the whole, getting on top in games.

Post by jackthegas on Jun 25, 2019 15:07:46 GMT

Your analysis about our bowling attack irish is pretty bang on. Our bowlers are very good but it’s hard to see them replacing anyone in the England team. You may be right about Jack Leach later on in the Summer but it’s such a tight test squad with Moeen and Rashid likely to be the spinners that I think he will miss out again. And Jamie O is still, imo, the fastest and potentially best bowler we have but he is so vulnerable to injuries that I’m not sure he will go on and play for England. Somerset I think “manage” him very well and he knows it. One or two of the bowlers, possibly Davey, Brooks or even Craig O may be rested for the T20 but if fit I think Jamie will play as many as he can together with Jerome Taylor. Bess could go out on loan again, to a second division team I hope, but he will be kept back for the time when the Ashes start in case Jack L is called up. I’ve always felt we are a batsman short to be a Championship winning side but our bowlers are getting us out of a few holes so far this season.

You may be a batsmen light but you bat deep- and that's just as important in a season where bowlers are, on the whole, getting on top in games.

You've done an excellent job of jinxing Somerset here Irish! It's been an odd season so far. All of the talk back in April was that the new batch of duke balls had a flatter seam and made batting easier. Then, after the white-ball hiatus it basically hasn't stopped raining (New Road flooded whilst I was on holiday) and batting has looked really difficult again.

The lack of runs has certainly made it difficult to pick a top 3 for the Ashes.

Post by warehamgas on Jun 25, 2019 16:04:50 GMT

I’m not sure irish jinxed us, more a case of finally losing our nine lives. Our bowlers have been getting us out of trouble for ages, Essex was just two collapses too many. No ones batting in any division 1 county is setting the world on fire this summer. Makes Sunday’s match v Hampshire very important.

Post by warehamgas on Jul 3, 2019 20:05:58 GMT

Was in Taunton for two days of the Hampshire match. Very professional comeback after losing to Essex. Good to see Somerset play both Bess and Leach who both bowled well and far better than Mason Crane for Hampshire. But Crane hasn’t had much cricket over the past year and what he needs is to bowl long spells. Yesterday he bowled in the morning and was very expensive and bowled poorly without any confidence but in the afternoon he bowled very well and got a couple of wickets. It’s a hard game but Leach and Bess are always encouraged by the senior pros. Yesterday Crane was largely ignored by the seniors and he needed, imo, an arm round his shoulder and some support.Essex are on a roll and the last game of the season is Somerset v Essex at Taunton. I’m sure it won’t come down to it because there’s a long way to go before that but it’s an intriguing possibility.Division Two is very close 50/60 points covering all 10 teams. Gloucestershire still in with a shout, like everyone else. Middlesex bottom! What a transformation since winning the Championship in ‘16.

Post by irishrover on Jul 5, 2019 12:25:10 GMT

Was in Taunton for two days of the Hampshire match. Very professional comeback after losing to Essex. Good to see Somerset play both Bess and Leach who both bowled well and far better than Mason Crane for Hampshire. But Crane hasn’t had much cricket over the past year and what he needs is to bowl long spells. Yesterday he bowled in the morning and was very expensive and bowled poorly without any confidence but in the afternoon he bowled very well and got a couple of wickets. It’s a hard game but Leach and Bess are always encouraged by the senior pros. Yesterday Crane was largely ignored by the seniors and he needed, imo, an arm round his shoulder and some support.Essex are on a roll and the last game of the season is Somerset v Essex at Taunton. I’m sure it won’t come down to it because there’s a long way to go before that but it’s an intriguing possibility.Division Two is very close 50/60 points covering all 10 teams. Gloucestershire still in with a shout, like everyone else. Middlesex bottom! What a transformation since winning the Championship in ‘16.

Oh that would be cracking end to the season. Essex are playing very well - they definitely have the batting. They don't have Somerset's bowling depth though and that will probably cost them some winning positions at some point.

I went to Scarborough this week for the first time. I cannot recommend it more if you've not been. Absolutely fantastic experience. Superb ground, lovely atmosphere and right by the beach! Surrey-Yorkshire also has that sense of history about it. Saw an excellent days cricket (Day 1) where it originally looked like Yorkshire were cruising to a massive score on a flat deck. Lyth always score runs when I watch Yorks but the youngsters Fraine was the story with a maiden century. He was dropped off a simple chance in the 40s but other than that was extremely assurred and particularly strong off the back foot. However, just when Yorks looked in complete command their middle order folded dreadfully (as it has been all season) and it took a late tail wag just to get them up to 300. Morkel and Curran went from looking completely ineffective to totally unplayable in the space of about 5 Overs! Shows the psychology of the game.

Middlesex are an odd case - from the outside it seems like they decided to back a young generation who just aren't all that good.

Post by warehamgas on Jul 5, 2019 16:52:15 GMT

Scarborough a ground ive not done and I should have done it in the last two years when Somerset played there and won. I like festival cricket, a bit of a wander back into olden days! Remember with fondness Bath and Weston. Usually good cricket which produced results even in the days of 3-day matches. That Surrey Yorkshire match also seemed a very good match with a bit of to and fro.When they won the Championship in ‘16 I thought we might drop and Middlesex with their batting strength of Robson, Guppy, Eskinasi and Malan would dominate. Their bowlers, Finn, Roland-Jones have suffered very bad injuries but today 18 places between us is very sad, although a lot of Somerset fans wouldn’t think it after Angus Frasers accusations in that final match in ‘17! They’ll come again and with it being so close in Division 2 this season it’s not impossible that, with a good end of season run, it could even be this year. But unlikely I would think. Lancashire, keep their nerve, should be favourites to take one of the places to go up.

Post by warehamgas on Jul 9, 2019 22:34:29 GMT

Wow. Gloucestershire looked like they had a good chance to win today and messed up. Middlesex were bottom, moved up 6 places and will now have their eyes on promotion. Crazy division this year! Was at Taunton for last two days. Poor batting but great bowling. I can’t remember the last time I saw a bowler open the bowling on the previous evening and bowl through the innings to have been the only bowler at one end. Ravi Ashwin did that for Notts. Started at 5.50 on Monday and finished at 3.00 this afternoon when Somerset were all out. Great bowling. But fortunately their batting was pathetic and Jamie Overton was frightening. At least the Notts batsmen were hopping left and right, ducking and diving. He was genuinely fast today but can have a day off tomorrow!

Post by irishrover on Jul 17, 2019 10:47:48 GMT

Wow. Gloucestershire looked like they had a good chance to win today and messed up. Middlesex were bottom, moved up 6 places and will now have their eyes on promotion. Crazy division this year! Was at Taunton for last two days. Poor batting but great bowling. I can’t remember the last time I saw a bowler open the bowling on the previous evening and bowl through the innings to have been the only bowler at one end. Ravi Ashwin did that for Notts. Started at 5.50 on Monday and finished at 3.00 this afternoon when Somerset were all out. Great bowling. But fortunately their batting was pathetic and Jamie Overton was frightening. At least the Notts batsmen were hopping left and right, ducking and diving. He was genuinely fast today but can have a day off tomorrow!

Poor week for Somerset with rampaging Essex taking over at the top. I think the T20 break has come at a good time. You can reset the batteries and come again for the last burst of games. As a (mainly) neutral I'm holding out for that Somerset-Essex last week deCIDER (see what I did there!) at Taunton. If it happens I will be doing everything I can to get down there for it.